Alright, so I guess this is a somewhat update but I am also going to ask a "life choice" question I guess and see what people have to say about it.
I walked by the tank a few days ago and noticed some brown algae, nothing too bad, but it was definitely noticeable, so I ran the tests, all came back fine, did a water change and called it a day. I walked by it this afternoon and my cleaner shrimp was eating was looks like the remains of the Red Mandarin, and the brown algae got much worse
I will assume the two are connected. So, that got me to thinking I guess.
I am leaving in less than 2 months, am holding off on buying anything livestock wise for the tank so I dont have to catch it, and am now dealing with some algae issues among other small things. I am moving almost 800 miles away from home to a new college, and money is a little too tight to be maintaining a tank that has little life in it. I am thinking about just taking it down now, storing it at home for a few months, and then if I can take it down with me just setting it back up and trying again. I WONT be leaving this hobby, thats for darn sure, I love every second of it, but taking a step back and looking at where life has taken me I am thinking setting a bigger tank up before leaving was somewhat irresponsible financially. This means I will have to go tankless for a few months, which I guess I can handle, I will still have RS, and I dont have any livestock in my tank thats too stunning really, and what is in there would probably sell pretty quickly here, and once its all gone I can just pull the rock and sand and let it sit then when I set it back up just cycle again, start from scratch, fix a few of the mistakes I have made already with this tank, and get an awesome tank up and running. Anyone have an opinion on this?